


Pride Goeth

by Winterling42



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Best Friends, F/F, Gals being pals, Miscommunication, Missing Scene, Roommates, Self-Hatred
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-20
Updated: 2019-05-20
Packaged: 2020-03-08 10:01:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18892372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Winterling42/pseuds/Winterling42
Summary: Sometime during the M9's trip to Felderwin, Beau gets some courage, miscommunicates, and commiserates with her roommate.





	Pride Goeth

**Author's Note:**

> title is....definitely a WIP. 
> 
> This was meant to be solely a BeauYasha fic! But I am also a shameless multi-shipper and am a sucker for blurring that line between platonic/romantic relationships!

Yasha was sitting on the edge the cart when Beau walked up, her face turned up towards the darkening sky. “Hey,” Beau said, a little drunk on good beer and being alive. She stood so close the edges of her hip bones pressed against the points of Yasha’s knees. The barbarian looked down at her, mismatched eyes wide. If Beau hadn’t known better, she almost would have said that Yasha looked...scared. But that was ridiculous. She’d seen the woman face down giants and hydras without flinching. There was no reason for her to be scared of  _ Beau _ . 

“Hey,” she said again, more quietly. 

“Hello.” Yasha was barely breathing, her feet knocking a little against Beau’s thighs. She radiated warmth and the smell of well-kept leather, and in the almost-dark it looked like her skin was glowing. And then, just as Beau had worked up the courage to lean forward and kiss her, Yasha spoke. 

“I don’t want to hurt you, Beau,” she said, so gently. And like always, Beau smashed in and fucked it up. 

She grinned and leaned forward, putting her hands on either side of Yasha. “I like when it hurts, sometimes.” For some reason, even as she said it, Beau was convinced Yasha was going to smile back, or roll her eyes, and wrap her in those big strong arms and--

Well, what Yasha did was stand up off the cart, pushing Beau away as she moved. “I’m not going to hurt you,” she said again, something deadly and quiet in her voice. And she walked away.

Later, after Beau had slunk back through the common room like Frumpkin on the prowl, she found Jester still awake in their room.

“Isn’t that like the fourth time you’ve read that?” she asked, nodding towards the rather worn copy of  _ Tusk Love _ Jester was holding.

“Only the third,” the tiefling said, marking her page and looking up at Beau. “Whoa, what happened to  _ you _ ?”

“What? Nothing.” Beau scoffed and turned to change into nightclothes, pointedly ignoring Jester’s skeptical hum. Only when she turned back around, Jester was only inches away, her dark eyes narrowed. “What did you do?” she asked, and when Beau didn’t immediately answer she repeated, “What did you do what did you do what did you dooooo?”

“Uhhh...Nothing. Happened?”

“So you did try something, then?” Jester was barely squeaking, her eyes wide and her smile sharp. It wasn’t that she came of as predatory as she did extremely nosy. Beau made a face and climbed into bed--only Jester kept following, and stole her pillow to clutch dramatically. “What did you  _ do _ ?” the tiefling asked, poking Beau’s shoulder with one very sharp finger. “What--”

“I fucked up!” Beau swatted her friend’s hand away, scowling down at the bed to avoid looking at her. “I fucked up, okay? I did something stupid,  _ as usual _ , and now Yasha hates me or whatever. It’s. Fine.” She yanked her pillow free, keeping her chin close to her chest so Jester wouldn’t see how close she was to crying. It was all just. Dumb. 

“Beau,” Jester sang, more gently. She scooted closer, curling up cross-legged on the thin straw mattress. “Yasha doesn’t  _ hate _ you. You don’t have to tell me what happened if you don’t want to, buuuut, just so you know, I’m always here for you.”

Beau sighed, pillow pulled close to her chest, and looked sideways at Jester. The blue tiefling was sitting with her hands clasped together under her chin, watching her with big, pleading eyes. “Just in case.” Jester added, her tail twitching. Beau found herself smiling without meaning to, her frustration and embarrassment easing away under Jester’s cheerful scrutiny. 

“I just. Said something dumb, and Yasha said she wasn’t gonna hurt me, and she walked away. Also I _ may have almost kissed her _ .” Beau kind of whispered the last part really fast. Not fast enough to stop Jester from shrieking excitedly and punching Beau maybe-too-hard on the shoulder. 

“Oh my Gods,  _ Beau _ ! Oh, sorry Traveller, you know I love you most.” She paused to blow a kiss to the air, then went back to shrieking. Well, whispering very loudly and at a very high pitch. Beau made a point of leaning away with one hand on her ear, and Jester got a little quieter. A very little. “Beau I can’t believe you kissed Yasha that’s so crazy! I mean, you’ve kind of been flirting with her since we met, and volunteering to take watches, and blushing whenever she handed you something, so I knew you  _ liked _ her. And she blushes too, and holds doors open for you. Well, for everyone, but it totally counts! And there’s  _ lots _ of times you’ve saved each other in battle, which is Very Romantic you know, and--”

“Jess, you’re not listening. I said I  _ almost _ kissed her, right? Then she was like ‘oh I don’t want to hurt you’ and I was like ‘sometimes I like when it hurts’ and then she got all quiet and scary and walked off.”

“Wow.” Jester’s eyes were now approximately the size of dinner plates. When no encouraging monologue was immediately forthcoming, Beau sighed and rubbed the back of her neck. 

“Yeah. And maybe you’re right, maybe she doesn’t hate me. Gods, I hope not, we’re still working together.” Beau sat up straight, a terrible thought striking her. “Unless she leaves again! Holy shit, what if she leaves because I’m such a fuck-up and she doesn’t want to be around me anymore and--”

Jester actually reached out and covered Beau’s mouth with her hands. She looked at Beau with something approaching seriousness and said, “You’re not a fuck-up, Beau. Yasha doesn’t hate you, she actually really likes you. You should get her some flowers, she really likes them. And it worked for Nott. I’m not going to let my best friend tell anyone she’s a fuck-up, okay?”

Beau sat very still for a moment as Jester took her hands away, fiddling with her nightdress like she wasn’t sure what to do with them. For some reason, those last words hit a lot harder than anything else that’d happened tonight, rejection or no. Beau couldn’t quite stop the couple of tears that escaped, but she did clear her throat a couple of times, so she could talk without crying. “Thanks,” she said, her voice still wobbly. “Thanks Jester.” And, when Jester made no move to reach out, Beau worked up the chutzpah to lean in and wrap her arms around their cleric. It was a little awkward, as Jester tried to get her arms free so she could return the hug, but they settled for a nice long moment wrapped around each other, and Beau only sniffled a little bit. 


End file.
